In this article, we will explain how the whole honor system works, what the rewards are, and how you can increase or lower your honor level in the 2020 season.
The honor system encourages good behavior among League of Legends players by gratifying everybody who influences their teammates in the right and friendly way in-game as well as punishing their toxic counterparts, making the gaming experience much more comfortable.
Everybody starts with honor level 2, the highest you can climb to is honor level 5, and the lowest is honor level 0. You can only lose honor progress by flaming and acting in a toxic way in-game that makes others report you and get you chat restricted or banned- the closer you are to honor level 0, the closer you are to a permaban as well, so it serves as a good indication of how careful you should be in your games.
For you to advance in honor level, you have to earn honors in the post-game lobby from your teammates. You have to be a positive player who motivates their teammates and tries his best to win every game, and it usually takes about two hundred games for you to climb a level in the honor progress using ordinary means.
All honor levels contain three checkpoints, and getting to any checkpoint rewards the player; reaching a higher honor level also rewards the player.
Rewards are a significant part of why players grind for Honor; the higher your honor level, the better your rewards will be. For starters, key fragments can only be obtained by Honor or events, and they are given continuously to Honorable players (Honor 2 or above).
Honor Capsules are earned upon leveling up to level 3, 4, and 5. Honor Capsules can be opened without a key and contain key fragments, ward skins, emotes, champion shards, and Honor-exclusive skins.
Honor orbs are earned upon reaching checkpoints at levels 3, 4, and 5, similar to Honor Capsules. Honor Orbs can be opened without a key, and contain vital fragments and champion shards.
Once you hit honor three or higher, you become eligible to receive a temporary loading screen flair. The flair is unlocked by earning Honor from your teammates. If you receive two honors from premade teammates or just one from a non-premade teammate, you'll carry a loading screen flair to your next game. This flair only lasts for one game. That means if you are getting honored every game, you will have the flair every game; as you level your honor level, so does your loading screen flair. The higher the honor level, the bigger the flair is.
Players with honor level 0 are considered toxic, receive no rewards, and are likely to get banned if reported.
Gamers that have honor level 1 are likely to get banned if they are reported again, and only receive a key fragment.
Honor level 2 is the starting line; players who maintain honor level 2 or higher receive seasonal rewards and key fragments.
Players with honor level 3 are considered honorable and friendly; they receive Capsules, Shards, Ward skins, and, most importantly, an Honor Orb!
Honor level 4 is the last step before the finish line! Players with it receive Capsules, Fragments, and Emotes, and an Honor Orb!
Players with Honor level 5 are the ideal gamers! They receive the best rewards and grind champions and skins with ease! They receive multiple Capsules, Orbs, and Fragments!
Whenever a ranked LoL season ends, all players with honor level 2 or above get their honor level restarted back to level 2 so that they can start earning rewards again in the new season.
You can only enhance your honor level by playing a lot, not getting reported, and getting honored nearly in as many games as possible. It takes about 200 games to increase your honor level by one level. You can play flex or normal games with 4 of your friends to make the process as fast as possible, requiring only 100 games per level if you get honored by everybody every game!
Post-game Honor: after the game finishes, before joining the post-game lobby, each player is given 40 seconds to identify another ally player in one of three categories- it doesn't matter which one you choose though, as long as you honor somebody you are increasing their honor level as well as your own. Players can only honor other their team members, and it only works in matchmade games (including bot games).
To summarize what you should do to climb your honor level as fast as possible
Overall the new honor system has been an improvement in League of Legends; it gives better rewards for honorable players, incentivizes positive behavior, punishes dishonorable players more heavily, which also discourages harmful conduct and benefits all the other players in the game.
All this may be subject to further changes in the future.